SOUTH RIVER — With his team holding a 34-point advantage and the ball at the South Hunterdon 10-yard line in the waning seconds of the second quarter on Saturday, South River coach Rich Marchesi let the clock run out rather than pursue another score to begin play in the second half with a running clock.

After South Hunterdon scored in the third quarter to remove the mercy rule, Marchesi again chose to sit on the lead, shuttling a bevy of running backs in and out while not attempting a pass over the final 32 minutes, looking at a bigger picture.

“What would have been the point? Like I just told them right now, we have a chance to do something next week that we haven’t done in almost 20 years, which is to go undefeated in the regular season,” Marchesi said, alluding to next Friday’s trip to Dunellen (3-4).

The Rams (8-0), ranked ninth in the Home News Tribune Top 10, achieved the penultimate step in achieving the feat it last achieved in 2001 with a 41-14 triumph over South Hunterdon. Five different players reached the end zone for South River, which scored on three runs, a pass, an interception return and the second-half kickoff, cashing in on four consecutive possessions at one juncture.

“We ran the ball a little bit more today, got everyone involved, scored on special teams,” Marchesi said. “It was a team effort, and I’m proud of our effort.”

Marchesi let 10 different backs carry the rock as the Rams amassed 166 yards on the ground. Leandro Santos led the multi-pronged assault with 59 yards on 15 carries.
South River’s defense was even more dominant as it limited the Eagles to minus-11 rushing yards in the first half. South Hunterdon (1-7) managed one first down over its first five possessions, which each ended with fourth-and-11, or worse. Punter Eric Myers was the Eagles’ MVP of the first half.

“Our defense played extremely well,” Marchesi noted. “I think Kenny Cross might have had 10 or 15 solos in the first half alone, they couldn’t (handle) him. Kevin Marquez and my two ends, Steve Lakatos and Davine Mayes were pretty dominant up front, along with my middle backer, Jimmy Stewart.”

The play that best summed up the afternoon was the second-half kickoff, which Santos bobbled and Travis Thomas captured in midair and returned for the touchdown that would extended the lead to 41-0 and trigger a running clock.

With the mercy rule in effect, South Hunterdon could have easily checked out, but the Eagles came to life. Justin Torres, who threw some terrific balls when he wasn’t being hounded by the relentless Rams defense, found Brian Torres for a 64-yard touchdown down the left sideline.

South Hunterdon’s next possession produced a score as well as Torres found Myers, who zig-zagged his way into the end zone for a 19-yard score.

South River did not score after the second-half kickoff but its second-half drives consumed eight and six minutes, over 22 plays.

By then, South River’s thoughts were drifting towards Dunellen, and accomplishing a feat the Rams have attained since before some of them were born.